Shestakov Ivan Alekseevich 
 (01.04.1820–21.11.1888)

Russian statesman, writer, military sailor, admiral, Adjutant General. 
Born in the village of Smilove, Krasnensky district, Smolensk province. Descended from a poor but ancient noble family. 
Up to 10 years old he was brought up at home under the supervision of his father, a lieutenant commander who retired in 1813 after being wounded at Danzig. 
In 1830, Shestakov entered the Naval Cadet Corps and immediately attracted attention with his brilliant abilities and serious knowledge of some of the items he had acquired at home. He was particularly distinguished in language skills, French, German and English. The then director of the corpus, I.F. Kruzenshtern Shestakov pushed for a great future, which in general was justified. 
In 1832 he was promoted to midshipmen, two years later he passed the officer exam brilliantly, but since he was not even 15 years old by that time, he was left in the corps for another year and was appointed sergeant-major of the Midshipman Company. 
With his remarkable abilities, Shestakov had a sharp, independent character, which often hampered his promotion. Because of the constant clashes with the tutors, he not only failed to receive an officer's rank a year later, but was also dismissed from the corps, despite the goodwill of the chief of the naval headquarters, Prince A.S. Menshikov. A friend of his father's famous admiral MP Lazarev agreed to take the quick-tempered young man to serve in the Black Sea Fleet. 
Service Shestakov began on the corvette "Iphigenia", cruising off the eastern coast of the Black Sea. This was followed by the tender "Stream", the frigate "Agatopol", the brig "Ajax". For participation in the seizure of Cape Konstantinovsky Shestakov was awarded the insignia of the military order and promoted to midshipmen. In combat with the mountaineers, he participated until 1843, earning the Order of St. Anna of 4 degrees with the inscription "For courage" and  St. Stanislav 3 degrees with swords and bow. 
In 1843 already in the rank of lieutenant, Shestakov was appointed adjutant to Admiral Lazarev, remaining in this position for two years. Then, until 1850, he conducted hydrographic work at the Caucasian coast, at the mouth of the Bug, in the Dnieper estuary and off the coast of Turkey. These works formed the basis of his essay “The Black Sea”, for which the talented sailor was awarded a diamond ring. 
In 1850 and 1852 Shestakov commanded to England to oversee the ships built there. Appointed in 1854 as a member of the shipping committee, he spent two years preparing drawings and supervising the construction of 20 pilot screw boats, 75 screw gunboats and 14 screw corvettes. 
In 1854 Shestakov participated in the reflection of the allied Anglo-French fleet from Kronstadt. 
In 1855 he was appointed adjutant to His Imperial Highness, General-Admiral, and in the rank of Captain First Rank, he was sent to the United States of America to oversee the construction of the General-Admiral screw frigate, the author of the construction project of which he himself was. This vessel was the largest of the Russian steam vessels of that time. Shestakov became his first commander and brought him to Kronstadt in the middle of 1859. The reward for the execution of the assignment entrusted to him was the Order of St. Vladimir of 3 degrees and the title of wing adjutant. 
He then commanded a squadron of four frigates, cruising in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria for two years, to protect Christians from the fanaticism of the Turks. 
In 1861 Rear Admiral Shestakov was appointed to the retinue of His Imperial Highness, a year later he became a member of the marine scientist and shipbuilding technical committees, leaving in the retinue, in 1863, he became the assistant to the commander-in-chief of the Kronstadt port for the naval unit. Having done much to strengthen the defense of Kronstadt, Shestakov, nevertheless, was forced to leave his post due to a collision with the then head of the naval ministry, Adjutant General Krabbe. 
After a long vacation, spent abroad, Shestakov received an appointment Taganrog mayor, and for about two years was able to do a lot for the improvement of the city. 
During this period, he became close friends with the ataman acting as ataman of the Don General-Adjutant General A.L. Potapov, and upon the appointment of the latter by the Vilna Governor-General, left Taganrog, moved to the service in Vilnius as governor. However, relations with Potapov deteriorated and became even hostile. Shestakov was dismissed from the post of governor and from the retinue of His Highness, went abroad, where he lived for several years, enrolling in the naval service until retirement in 1869. It soon became clear that he was far from deserving of the harsh punishment that he had to suffer because of a collision with Potapov, and the general-admiral General Prince Konstantin Nikolayevich, who had always patronized Shestakov, suggested that he again begin naval service. Since, due to the state of health of his wife, Shestakov could live only in the south of Europe, a post of temporary naval agent was created for him in the southern states of Europe, in Austria and Italy. For eight years of his service in this position, Shestakov very closely followed the development and successes of naval affairs in Western Europe, providing the most detailed information about all the improvements, inventions and innovations in naval technology. 
In 1881, after the death of his wife, Shestakov returned to St. Petersburg and was appointed chairman of the shipbuilding department of the Marine Technical Committee, taking an active part in the construction of steam vessels after the issue of the transformation and strengthening of the Russian fleet was raised. He took the lead in developing a program for the conversion and modernization of the fleet, according to which for twenty years it was planned to build 19 first-class battleships, 4 battleships of the 2nd class, 25 cruisers of various sizes and a number of small ships. It was up to Shestakov himself to begin the implementation of this program in the positions of minister of seamen and manager of the maritime ministry. 
Already in 1883, three battleships of a very large size (10150 tons of displacement) were laid in the Black Sea: Chesma, Sinop and Catherine II. The following year, the battleships Alexander II and Nicholas I were laid in the Baltic Sea, each with a displacement of 8,500 tons. At the same time, in addition to the battleships, the cruisers Dmitry Donskoy, Admiral Nakhimov, Memory of Azov, Admiral Kornilov, Rynda and others and a number of seagoing gunboats, mine transports, destroyers and other types of ships were built . All major vessels were built exclusively in Russia. The battleships "Chesma" and "Catherine II" were launched into the water already in 1886, the battleship "Alexander II" was under construction for only 3 years, and the battleships "Sinop" and "Nikolay I" were under construction for four years.During the management of the Shestakov naval ministry, the Russian navy increased by one-half the number of ships, and more than doubled in combat strength. By the end of his administration of the ministry, the number of all ships reached 1,110. Shestakov paid much attention to another branch of naval affairs - the construction of sea fortresses and ports. During his relatively short naval ministry administration, he traveled all Russian military ports and even visited Vladivostok, making it the main Russian port in the Pacific.

In 1882 Shestakov was made general adjutant, the next year he was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, and in 1886 after the launch of the battleships Chesma and Catherine II, he was granted the diamond signs of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. The last award received by Shestakov was the rank of admiral, in which, shortly before his death, he was made on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of service in the officer ranks. 
Shestakov died in Sevastopol from heart failure. His body was buried there, in the church of St. Vladimir, in the chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky. The following lines of the telegram of Emperor Alexander III, sent to his widow in Sevastopol on November 23, 1888, can serve as a characteristic of Shestakov: “With great sorrow, I learned about the death of Ivan Alekseevich. For the state and for the fleet in particular, this is a huge loss and difficult to replace. In it, I lost a person who was sincerely devoted to his work, a person with a warm soul, a broad education and an extensive state mind. I used to love and respect Ivan Alekseevich and knew that I can count on him completely, and no matter what he ordered, he would fulfill his duty sacredly, as evidenced by the appearance of the Black Sea fleet in a short time, the energetic construction of ships of the Baltic fleet and ocean navigation”. 
The island in the Gribovaya Bay on the western shore of the southern island of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Named in 1889 by the officers of the schooner "Bakan".